The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-03-03
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
'<sUBJECT OF HIS DISCOURSE: 1.-THE
SWELLING OF JORDAN"

The Great Preacher Does Not Believe
that there is Real Atheist in All
the World -- John Bunyan and the
DrunlSard.
BRooKLYN, Feb. 27.-At the Tabernacle
this morning a vast tmong rose to sing the
opening doxology:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
After brief exposition of Scripture by the
pastor, the Rev. T. De Witt Tamage, DID,
and the singing of hymn, Professor Henry
Eyre Browne rendered an organ solo, Sonata
Kc. I, in d minor, by Guilmant The subject
oi Dr.. Talmage's sermon was "The Swelling
OF Jordan" and his text Jer. xii, 5: of thou
Last run with the footmen, and they have
S-dcd thee, then how canst thou contend
with horsesl And if in the land of peace,
wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee,
then how wilt thou do in the swelling Of
Jordan| The eloquent preacher said:
Not in n petulant but in kindly terms
must complain that q wrong has been done
He and the cause of honest journalism, by
pretended sermon that is going the rounds Of
hundreds of papers with my name appended,
a sermon entitled "Frauds Detected" text,
Numbers xxi 23 "But if ye will not do
SO, behold, We have sinned against the Lord:
and be sure your sin will find you out" Not
one sentence Of that pretended sermon did
preach. II this were the only oifense of the
kind | would not speak of it. Such a fraud
is not only wrong to me but to the gentle
men who, at these tables, Sabbath by Sab
bath, take accurate reporto Of what is said and
done; and is gross wrong TO the 1000 news
papers which give every week my sermon in
fun to their readers, and often at great ex-
pense to themselves. The only fault have
To find with the newspaper press of this
country is that they treat me too well. But
! cannot be made responsible for entire SER
mons, not one word of which did | preach.
But now turn from personal explanation to
the more important subject of the text.
jeremiah had become impatient with his
troubles, God says to him: "If you cannot
stand these small trials and prosecutions
hat Gre you going to do when the greater
trials and prosecutions come? If you have
been running a race with footmen and they
have beaten you, what chance is there that
you will outrun horses" And then the figure
Is changed. You know, in April and MAY,
the Jordan overflows its banks and the waters
rush violently on, sweeping everything be-
fore them. And God says to the prophet:
"If you are overcome with smaller trials and
vexations which have assaulted you, what
will you do when the trials and annoyance
and prosecutions of life come in a freshet9
If in the land of peace wherein thou trusted
they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in
the swelling of Jordan?
/ propose, if God will help me, in a very
practical way to ask-if it is such difficult
thing to get along without the religion Of
Jesus Christ, when things are comparatively
L,
the overpouiTng misfortunes and disasters of
life that may come upon US? Ii troubles,
slow as footmen, surpass us. what will we do
when they take the feet of horses2 and if now
i'll our lifetime we are l'eaten back and sub
merged of sorrows because we have not the
religion of Jesus to comfort us, what will we
do when we stand in death, and we feel all
around. about us "the swelling of Jordang" The
fact that you have come here, my brother,
my sister, shows that you have some
things you believe in common with
myself You believe that there is a God
There is not an atheist in all this house. do
not believe there ever was a real atheist in
al the world. Napoleon was on a ships decl,
bound for Egypt. It was a bright, starry
night, and as he paced the deck, thinking of
the great affairs of the state and of BATTLE he
heard two men on the deck in conversation
about God, one saying there was God and
the other saying there was none. Napoleon
stopped and looked up at the starry heavens,
and then he turned to these men in conversa-
tion and said Gentlemen, heard one of You
say there is no God. If there is no God, will
you please to tell me who made all that?"
Aye, if you had not been persuaded of it be-
fore, you are persuaded of it now; for the
Inning heavens declare the glory of God and
the earth shows his handiwork. But you be-
ltsse more than that; you believe that there
~ Jesus; you believe that there was
cross, YOU believe that you have an inmor-
tai soul: you believe that it must be regener-
ated by the spirit of GOd or you can never
dwell in bliss eternal. l think great many
of you will say that you believe it is impor-
tant to have the religion of Jesus Christ
every day of our life, to smooth our
tempers and purify our minds, and hold
us imperturbable amid all the annoy
nnce and veXations of life. You and
have seen so many men trampled down by
misfortunes because they had no faith in
Jesus, and you say to yourself; "lf they were
so ensily overcome by the trials of life, what
will it be when greater misfortunes come
upon thenl-heart breaking calamities,
tremendous griefst" Oh, if we have no God
10 comfort us when our fortune goes, and we
look upon the grave of our children, and our
houses are desolate, what will become of us2
What a sad thing it is to see men all
uuhelped of God, going out to fight
giants of trouble; no closet of prayer
in which to retreat, no promise of mercy to
soothe the soul, no rock of refuge in which
to hide from the blast. Oh, when the swift
coursers of trouble arc brought up champing
and painting for the race, and the reins are
thrown upon their necks and the lathered
fanlls at every spring feel the stroke of the
lash, what can we do on foot with theml
How can we compete with them? If, having
rnn with the footmen, they wearied us, how
can we contend with horsess
We have all yielded to temptation. We
have been surprised afterward that so small an
inducement could have decoyed us from the
right How Insignificant a temptation has
sometimes captured our soul And if that is
So. my dear brother, what will it be when we
come TO stand in the presence of temptation
that Frustrated David, and Moses, and q
Peter, and some of the mightiest men in all
Gods kingdoml Now we are honest; but
sl1ppose we were placed in some path of life
rs many of Gods children have been, where
NIL the forces of earth and hell combine &c
Capture the soull Without Jesus we would
20 down under it, If already we have
been beaten by insignificant footmen, we
would be distanced 10000 leagues by the
horses. Ah don't like TO hesr man say
a could not commit such a sin as that
can't understand how a man could be carried
away like that" You don't know what yor
could do if the grace of God lets you. You
know what John Bunyan said when he saw G
man staggering along the street, thoroughly
embluted in his habits. He said: "Thert
goes John Bunyan, but for the grace of God.
l can say when l see one utterly fallen
"'There goes Dewitt Talmage, but for the
grace of Godw If we have been delivered
from temptation it ia because the strong
arm of the Lord Almighty has been about
Us, and not because were any better thar
they 1t is great folly to borrow trouble
IL we can meet the miSfortunes of today VIZ
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